Administration Committee — Agenda Packet

1 Sawyer County Administration Committee Meeting Thursday, September 10, 2026 @ 10:00 AM Sawyer County Board Room AGENDA 1. ZOOM LINK a. To view or participate in the virtual meeting from a computer, iPad, or Android device please go to https://zoom.us/j/92546130740. You can also use the dial in at 1-312-626-6799with the Webinar ID: 925 4613 0740. Use *9 to Raise/lower hand and *6 to Unmute/mute. If you are on a computer, click the "Raise Hand" button and wait to be recognized. If you are on a telephone, dial *9 and wait to be recognized. If additional assistance is needed please contact the County Clerk's Office at 715-634-4866 prior to the meeting. This meeting will be recorded and will be available on our website at: https://sawyercountygov.org. 2. CALL TO ORDER 3. ROLL CALL 4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 5. CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE OPEN MEETINGS LAW 6. MEETING AGENDA 7. PUBLIC COMMENTS At this time, members of the public will be given the opportunity to address the Committee. Please adhere to the following when addressing the Committee: • Comments will be limited to 3 minutes or less per individual. • Comments should be directed to the Committee as a whole and not directed to individual Committee members. • The Committee cannot respond to your comments during this time. • Please sign in and fill out a public comment sheet if you wish to speak and hand it to the County Clerk (please respect the signs and do not approach Board members at the table). 8. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING a. Draft Admin Minutes 8.13.26 9. DISTRICT 15 SUPERVISOR RESIGNATION/APPOINTMENT (DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION) Page 1 of 11 2 a. Accept Supervisor Minto Resignation Letter b. Appoint District 15 Supervisor- Ida Kinsley c. Appoint Ida Kinsley to HHS, Economic Development/UW Extension Committees 10. COUNTY CLERK REPORT a. County Clerk Department Report 11. VETERANS SERVICE OFFICE REPORT a. Veteran Service Office Report 12. VETERANS TRIBUTE UPDATE 13. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REPORT a. IT Report 14. HUMAN RESOURCES REPORT a. Human Resource Report b. County Administrator Recruitment Update 15. SAWYER COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR'S UPDATE 16. BOARD APPOINTED COMMITTEE UPDATES 17. CORRESPONDENCE, REPORTS FROM CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS 18. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 19. FINALIZATION OF BUSINESS 20. NEXT MEETING DATE /TIME: OCTOBER 8, 2026 AT 10:00 AM 21. ADJOURNMENT DISCLAIMER: A quorum of the County Board of Supervisors or of any of its committees may be present at this meeting to listen and observe. Neither the Board nor any of the committees have established attendance at this meeting as an official function of the Board or committee(s) or otherwise made a determination that attendance at the meeting is necessary to carry out the Board or committee’s function. The only purpose for other supervisors attending the Page 2 of 11 3 meeting is to listen to the information presented. Neither the Board nor any committee (other than the committee providing this notice and agenda) will take any official action with respect to this noticed meeting. Copy sent via email to: Committee Members, Associated Staff and News Media. Note: Any person wishing to attend whom, because of a disability, requires accommodation should call the Sawyer County Clerk’s Office (715.634.4866) at least 24 hours before the scheduled meeting so appropriate arrangements can be made. Page 3 of 11 Minutes of the Meeting of the August 13, 2026 Sawyer County Administration Committee of the Sawyer County Board of Supervisors Board Room; Sawyer County Voting Committee Members (X) Present: Others Present: Chair: Ron Kinsley Mike Markgren Vice Chair: Ron Buckholtz Liz Klein John Pinnow Brian Lehner- Virtual Marshal Savitski- Virtual Gary Elliot Randy Neumann John Righeimer Rose Lillyroot Atty. Roeker Stacey Hessel Mike Coleson Call to Order –Chair Kinsley called the meeting to order at 10:00 am. Certification of Compliance with the open meeting law was met. Roll Call taken; quorum was met. Meeting Agenda – Set Public Comments – Linda Zillmer Minutes from the previous meeting dated: July 9, 2026 Motion to approve by: Mr. Righeimer Second by: Ms. Hessel Motion carried without negative vote. Review District 15 Supervisor Position: Discussion about District 15 Supervisor not attending County Board and committee meetings and his public resignation in the Sawyer County Record. Atty. Roeker recommended serving or sending a certified letter stating the circumstances and intent to proceed with removal and enclosing a letter of resignation that could be easily signed and returned. Supervisor Buckholtz offered to help if needed. Motion to either serve or send a certified letter to John Minto stating circumstances and intent to remove and include a letter of resignation for him to sign and return by: Ms. Hessel Second by: Mr. Righeimer Motion carried without negative vote. Atty. Roeker will draft a letter with the required elements. Appointments: The Chair has the authority to remove or appoint members to committees with confirmation by the County Board. A motion was made by Mr. Buckholtz, second John Righeimer to remove Supervisor Hessel from the Econ/UW Extension committee and appoint to Zoning Committee. Atty. Roeker advised removing a member from the Zoning Committee first due to statutory requirements specifying the number of members on that committee. Mr. Buckholtz amended his motion to: Remove Supervisor Minto from Zoning Committee, remove Supervisor Hessel from Econ/UW Extension Committee and Appoint her to Zoning Committee. Second by: Mr. Righeimer Motion carried without negative vote. Appoint Reone Gheen as Sawyer County Medical Examiner— Mr. Markgren recommended Reone Gheen for the open position of County Medical Examiner. Motion to appoint Reone Gheen as Medical Examiner by: Ms. Hessel Second by: Mr. Buckholtz Page 4 of 11 Motion carried without negative vote. Appointments and removals will go to full County Board for confirmation on August 20. Public Comment Policy— Mr. Kinsley stated that some board members have requested changes to the Public Comment policy. Atty. Roeker advised the committee that outside of public hearings, allowing public comment at board and committee meetings is not required and some counties do not allow any, while others have residency requirements and other limitations. Due process and other constitutional rights were reviewed, and there is no legal issue with requiring residency to participate in public meetings. Atty. Roeker reviewed the Board Policy & Procedure Manual and drafted revisions that would restrict public comment to residents only, and also added an accidentally deleted rule back to the document. The draft will be shared with all board members following this discussion, for consideration at the August 20 County Board meeting. A motion was made by Mr. Righeimer to amend the Board Policy Manual to add the requirement of residency to the public comment section. Second by: Ms. Hessel After discussion and clarification Mr. Righeimer amended the motion to: Amend the Board Policy Manual to add the requirement of residency to the public comment section and include Rule #10. Second by: Ms. Hessel Motion carried without negative vote. This will go to full County Board for consideration on August 20. County Clerk Report- Ms. Klein provided a written department report on July activity: 21 late dog licenses and 12 marriage licenses were issued. The towns did a great job with the August 11 election. Preliminary 2027 Budget request—Election revenue will be decreased due to the municipal clerks doing their own elections. Otherwise, just normal increases for postage and publications. Veterans Service Office Report - Mr. Elliot updated his reporting format and presented a written report on July department activity: 524 phone calls, 1,163 letters/emails/faxes sent and 204 office visits. 129 disability claims have been filed to date with $601,153.23 awarded in Veterans’ favor. The department is co-hosting counseling sessions at La Crosse Vet Center and Coffee & Conversation; the social media report was provided. Mr. Elliot received a Quilt of Valor at Honor the Earth Powwow, a high honor for his work helping Native Veterans. There will be a Sawyer County-LCO Veterans Fair at SevenWinds Casino on October 22. A citizen letter of gratitude was shared with the committee. Preliminary 2027 Budget request—Normal increases. Veteran’s Tribute Update- Three bids were received for concrete flatwork: Mr. Markgren recommended Creative Concrete Concepts, who came in lowest at $58,000 with the added items of concrete benches and a base for the fountain included. Motion to approve the bid of $58,000 by Creative Concrete Concepts by: Mr. Buckholtz Second by: Mr. Righeimer Motion carried without negative vote. Page 5 of 11 Information Technology Department Report - Mr. Coleson provided a written IT report on ongoing IT projects. Preliminary 2027 Budget request— Operations estimate is $6,000 lower than 2026. CIP requests for $230,000 include Cyber Security measures, replacing the phone system, and permit automation software. Human Resources Report - A written report was provided on staffing and recruiting for open positions within the county. Recruiting for the County Administrator position was discussed. A motion to recruit internally instead of using an outside firm was made by: Ms. Hessel Second by: Mr. Righeimer A proposal to recruit prospective County Administrator candidates from within Wisconsin and Minnesota was presented to the committee. The motion was amended to approve hiring internally and limiting the search for candidates to Wisconsin and Minnesota applicants by: Mr. Righeimer Second by: Mr. Buckholtz Motion carried without negative vote. Preliminary 2027 Budget request— 2027 budget is the same County Administrator’s Report— Mr. Markgren reported on working with Brian Priester to apply for the Opportunity Zone designation, a report showing increased net new construction, Finance work on the 2027 Budget, a CIP request to fund 20% of a highway project that will allow the department to do the work internally and move toward breaking away from the state Actual Cost model which will increase Highway revenue in the long term, attending the Johnson Bank groundbreaking ceremony, and a five department move between the Courthouse and the Oasis building that will improve efficiency. Board Appointed Committee Updates – None Correspondence, reports from conferences and meetings– None Future Agenda Items- Veterans Tribute Update Adjournment – 11:08 am Next Meeting: September 10 2026 Time: 10:00 am Location: Board Room Minutes recorded by Liz Klein, County Clerk Page 6 of 11 Page 7 of 11 County Clerk Department Monthly Report, Ending August 31, 2026 County Clerk Desk Activity/Revenue YTD: Activity Number of Licenses/Permits Total Revenue (including amounts sent to the State of Wisconsin Dog Licenses Late Fees (Retained by County) Donation to Animal Control 54 $590.00 1,320.00 Marriage Licenses Clerk (County Retains) = $55/license Mediation = $20/license State = $25/license Waivers = $10/license $1025.00 Plat Books Mailing Fee Map GL 218-00-42000 GL 218-00-42001 $240.00 24.00 Copies $0.00 General Department Report: Elections August 11 is completed. November 3rd ballots have been created and ordered; absentees go out starting September 17. We are watching the USPS court case that could impact the delivery of absentee ballots in Wisconsin. Operations- We have been busy with dog and marriage licenses. Page 8 of 11 Page 9 of 11 August 13, 2026 Mike Coleson Sawyer County IT Director Administration Committee IT Department Report Page 1 of 1 _______________________________________________ Agenda items: none Service Requests August 2026 New 54 Completed 51 Open 21 Tasks completed • Onboarding 2 Terminations 4 • Computer replacements 4 • Department moves to and from Oasis building • Install network drop in new Transitions office Tasks in progress • Set up ambulances like squads for better integration with Dispatch. Realtime location tracking. • Laserfiche document server: adding protection from bots that affect performance. Pending Tasks Page 10 of 11 Sawyer County Human Resources September 2026 Report Staffing Snapshot • Vacancies: 6 • Separations: 4 Hired Economic Support Specialist Hired Driver/Operator at highway Hired ADRC Specialist Recruiting for 9-1-1 Dispatcher, Administrative Assistants for HHS (2), Clerk of Court (2), PT Resident Assistant at Transitions Working with County Board Chair Kinsley on County Administrator recruitment process, materials Working with Department Heads on various FMLA and work comp leaves, ongoing personnel matters and employee relations. Page 11 of 11